


Command Structure [PODFIC]

by Lockedinjohnlock



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Anxiety Attacks, Captain John Watson, Consensual, Dom John Watson, Dom/sub Play, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, English Accent, Frottage, M/M, Not Season/Series 03 Compliant, Oral Sex, PTSD Sherlock, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Podfic, Post-Reichenbach, Protective John, Rimming, Slow Build, Sound cloud, Sub Sherlock Holmes, past dubious consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-23 15:09:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 20
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4881505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lockedinjohnlock/pseuds/Lockedinjohnlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock Holmes returns from his hunt to destroy Moriarty's network.  He comes home to John and at long last, they start this thing between them that couldn't begin while Moriarty threatened them.</p><p>But Sherlock has returned fractured and suffering anxiety attacks.  He thinks he needs discipline - the whip- to help him focus and be strong.  But his problems are deeper and run back to a childhood of neglect.</p><p>John Watson is prepared to be Sherlock's Captain but he's a doctor, too.  His command style isn't about pain and subjugation.  It's about care and responsibility, and those concepts go in both directions in Captain Watson's command structure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [221b_hound](https://archiveofourown.org/users/221b_hound/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Command Structure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1330516) by [221b_hound](https://archiveofourown.org/users/221b_hound/pseuds/221b_hound). 



> I'd like to thank 221b_hound, firstly for writing this fabulous piece of work and secondly for allowing me to read it and present it to you here on AO3. I have returned to this fic many, many times and it has brought me more comfort than is probably seemly!


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the morning after. Sherlock feels much, much better. He takes John upstairs to demonstrate just how much better he's feeling.
> 
> A little later, a very angry Mrs Hudson wishes to Have Words with her tenant about keeping the noise down when he brings people home...


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The people left behind start to find out that Sherlock's back. Molly's happy, of course. Some people are less so. Sergeant Lestrade, for example, is kind of pissed off. He didn't even know Sherlock was alive, so it's perhaps not surprising that he really isn't prepared for the ways that Sherlock has changed.
> 
> And Sherlock has changed. He's a little bit broken, now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse the excruciatingly bad French accent. I practised and practised but fear it's just not my division!


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock is home. Everyone is safe. Things should be getting better. But they aren't. Even the excellent sex and the new loving relationship with John won't stop the nightmares and the panic attacks. The things that haunt Sherlock are older than his year as a hunter. Much older. Also, Mycroft is an arse.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock gets back to The Work - but he keeps looking for Moriarty in the shadows; he almost has a panic attack at the scene. But John centres him again and Sherlock realises he needs to overcome this problem. He needs discipline. He needs to focus. And there was a thing he did for a while at uni that helped him to do that. John will agree to it, he's almost sure.
> 
> (Some mild dubcon in this chapter, from an unconvinced John.)


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock's idea of domination and submission isn't working for John - mostly because it clearly isn't working for Sherlock, either, no matter what Sherlock says. So, for this one night, they're going to try it John's way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uuuuummm, I think I'd recommend headphones for this one. Definitely NSFW, I made myself blush! You'll see what I mean...


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This new style of submission and domination seems to work for them both but Sherlock's panic attacks haven't gone and he still has old habits and expectations from the past dynamic. It's slowly becoming clear that there's more to Sherlock's needs than either John or Sherlock fully understand yet.  
> And Sherlock still has secrets.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sherlock was little, he experienced primary nocturnal enuresis - bed wetting - until he was nine years old. This night, in the grip of terrible dreams, it happens again. Filled with distress and self disgust, Sherlock fears that this is it. John will leave him now. But his Captain knows what PTSD can do to your body, and more importantly, Captain John Watson is nothing like Sherlock's father.


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock still has bad days but things are getting better. There's still that Thing in the Cupboard and the things he can't talk about but he's learning he's allowed to have what he needs, whether he needs a hug, sex or Treasure Island. John's learning things too. At least, he is suspecting them and he goes to Mycroft to find out more because it is a capital mistake to theorise without data.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock is stupidly reckless at a crime scene. Instead of fighting about it, John sort of proposes. Sherlock sort of accepts Then there is sex literally in the middle of the Thai takeout on their kitchen table.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's another bad day but when they get home, Sherlock can't find his tags. He starts a panicked slide into bad old behaviours but the Captain isn't having it. Instead, he discovers Sherlock sliding into an even older behaviour, one that was banned when he was tiny. Will this be the thing that his Captain won't abide?
> 
> Or is it the thing, now it's known, that will break down the next-to-last wall of Sherlock's secrets?


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now - the last secret. What's in the package that Sherlock has hidden in his cupboard? And how will the Captain react?


	13. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is so much better than it used to be. Even Lestrade notices it. Sherlock takes better care of himself. He's even started to cook. But it's not quite right yet. Something is still missing. Sherlock has what he needs now - but what does John need?


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is what balance looks like. This is what it is to take care of yourself so that you also take care of the one you love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please forgive me for Lestrade! I know he should be from Bromley by way of Bristol but sadly, he's come out of my mouth being Brixton via Brisbane! It took so many attempts and so much snorting laughter on my part, that I didn't know whether I was Arthur or Martha by the end and this is what we're left with! Sorry again! ;-)


	15. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And once you've found healing, perhaps it's possible to start to help someone else begin to mend, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we are at the end. It has been a fantastic experience for me to read, voice and present this wonderful work of fiction. Thank you so much for your support, encouragement and all-round general awesomeness. Your comments have been phenomenal - it's good to see so many people become engaged with the story. 
> 
> 221b_hound, you are a treasure. Thank you again for writing this, for allowing me to present it and for your unerring support throughout. Here's to the next one!?!

For those of you who like to have all the files together in one place, playing in the right order...

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [We Are a Skein of Two: Illustration for 221b_hound's Command Structure](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7752076) by [WillowGrove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowGrove/pseuds/WillowGrove)




End file.
